PC: ACE 💀

[resumed]

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[selfimmolation]

I don't underestimate darkness.

[ idle as he puts the knife back, but yeah, ok, point on the murder thing. he doesn't know that he'd carry the cape around to hide so he's like. maybe i gift it away. ]

I know I'm not that smart, but I can keep a secret. [ obviously, considering. but he mostly means that he'll keep nico's. ] Did you have it with you on Thursday?

[ "do you know how to hide the sword in plain sight when you're surrounded during curfew", really ]

[resumed]

[ for some reason he smiles about that? probably because he's a fucking weird kid. anyway, there goes the knife. he can gift the cape away. i believe in him. ]

I never said you weren't smart. [ but he nods, picking up on those implications. on the other hand, there's a question and he shakes his head. ]

I didn't because we were with Will's entire team and Lillium. Jolyne and Hung showed up, too, but I didn't know about that ahead of time. I don't know if I plan to carry it with me either. It's going to depend. Ideally, if I do have to use it, I'll be fast enough to get back to my dorm to grab it and defend myself.

[ it's not the best plan, but he is improvising as well as he can. ]

[selfimmolation]

[ nico doesn't have to say it ace already thinks he is not?? this is just a fact??? but he nods at all that ]

... Ideally, huh. I wouldn't count on that too much. About how big is your sword?

[ he's seen so many size variations how would he know ]

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[ yes look he recognizes it as a bad plan but also. so yeah he holds out his hands to measure about three feet. ]

The blade is about this big. So...not very subtle which usually isn't bad. But it goes against the purpose here.

[selfimmolation]

Yeah, you'd need a cloak or a bag or something... It'd definitely look weird if you started wearing trenchcoats to curfew, though.

[ amused. but; ]

Sports bag should be big enough. You can even make Will carry it so it doesn't look weird.

[resumed]

Maybe, though I have worn a trenchcoat before. [ that is neither here nor there though. ]

You think? [ he sounds dubious but mostly because he's so used to just carrying his sword out in the open. ] I guess if we put it in there and buried it with his other supplies we could get away with it. Long as nobody opens it. Maybe I'll ask him.

[selfimmolation]

So have I.

[ this is surprising only because it implies wearing a shirt, but moving on; ]

I doubt anyone's opening your stuff without looking in. You can carry any other thing that could be useful for protection, too. [ like wonderball items. ] Mix it with his supplies and some snacks, no one will think anything of it.

[resumed]

[ yes judging by the look on his face the coat is a surprise. anyway. ]

I'm more thinking if they assume it's just Will's stuff since he always has an oversupply of everything on him at any time. [ fond. but also judgy. ] But if Will keeps it with him and we're the only ones opening it, that might work out just fine. Especially if we keep getting locked in places on Thursdays.

[selfimmolation]

Even if no one goes for the bait, I doubt that's stopping. [ fucking thursdays ] That it worked even when we were outside was... weird.

[resumed]

...like invisible barriers? How far were you actually allowed to go? [ it's disconcerting it works outside actually wtf. ]

[selfimmolation]

It was pretty much the entire park area, lake included. But we couldn't step out of that.

[resumed]

And with everyone being forced to fall asleep, it's not like anyone would be able to stay up and keep a night watch to try and stop things from happening. I hadn't realized their control could spread that far as to stop us even in open spaces.

[ hm. wait. ]

It does kind of raise the point that nothing's stopping someone from killing any of us that are out in the open, too.

[selfimmolation]

That's what I don't get. There were a lot of us out in that park, but... no one woke up except for Chiemi. [ to die and to murder both, which is just. rude. ] Rocket and Mika were picked at random, but was it... what, intent, that kept those three awake?

[resumed]

[ well. ace might not like to hear it, but: ]

I don't know what happened with Rocket and Mika when the whole thing was an accident. But Argalia told me he'd decided to kill Chiemi before Thursday night and waited to see if he would wake up to do so. Obviously he did.

[selfimmolation]

[ well that makes sense and he hates it even though he figured, but he grimaces ]

Right. But-- that means whatever's keeping us asleep somehow knows if someone wants to kill. [ and that's... not great. ]

[resumed]

Yeah. Therein lies the problem. [ he had come to that same conclusion and it's, simply put, freaking him the fuck out. ] We already knew we were being watched and that whoever's behind those notes Hung and I found is orchestrating stuff, but to be able to know the intent before it happens is even more messed up than I thought.

[selfimmolation]

If it's something like just having the thought is enough... someone might be driven over the edge just from waking up knowing what could happen anyway. There's no saying they would've gone through with it without that.

[ not that he's absolving anyone of being a rude murderer but also]

[resumed]

And the thing about it is, if two people wake up there's no guarantee that the person who sets out to target someone is going to be successful. If they try and target someone stronger than them, or someone with a wonderball power that can turn the tables, they might lose their own life. And what happens if two people are awake but nobody dies? Does everything just carry on like normal until the morning?

And who's even awake to be reporting all of these things in the paper? [ like. are the prinnies and police seriously letting this continue. he knows the answer but gods. ]

[selfimmolation]

... Does the rest of the city even fall asleep, or is it just us and the leads...?

[ he's. never thought about it. ]

[resumed]

That...is what I've wondered. Who reported the gunshots? Why didn't anyone do anything before we woke up? I've been wondering if it's possible to set up cameras or something around the city to see if we can catch any glimpses of what happens on Thursdays.

[selfimmolation]

They said the ones that were already there were turned off... [ why's there security cameras in one piece. and why are they snails. whatever. ] You think it'd be any different if we put some in ourselves?

[resumed]

I don't know. But we're not going to know until we try it ourselves, are we? [ sometimes you get tired of other people telling you how things should go and take matters into your own hands. ]

[selfimmolation]

It's worth a shot. [ he'll agree! sure! but it makes him think of something: ] In general, we could put up traps around the city, couldn't we?

[resumed]

[ he seems to pause in his thoughts, because that actually makes sense. ]

...I don't think that's a bad idea either. If we know what's coming now, who says we can't set things up before Thursday night to try and trap whoever might be out there? Or at least give us a clue to what's happening while we're asleep. What sort of traps do you think would work?

[selfimmolation]

Traps you can lay out in a city are a lot different than traps you can in a forest. [ so he's thinking about it for a little, mulling it over ] I don't know that we could trap people all night in any way, with the range of powers we've got. But maybe we could do something that'd leave a trace on whoever went inside places? I don't know how you'd do that without them noticing though. We're not exactly talking about wild animals.